A Bundesliga Battle With Borussia
Union Travel to Dortmund
In the top match of the Bundesliga’s 23rd matchday, 1. FC Union Berlin’s men’s team will face Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, 22 February 2025. Kick off in the floodlit duel at the Westfalenstadion is at 18:30.
The lie of the land
While Borussia Dortmund secured their place in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League with a 3-0 away win over Sporting Clube de Portugal on Wednesday evening, coach Niko Kovac's team have now been in 11th place in the Bundesliga for three matchdays. BVB have had a particularly difficult 2025 so far, with just four points coming from seven league games, the 2-2 against Werder Bremen and 2-1 win at 1. FC Heidenheim.
Last weekend, Union’s narrow 2-1 defeat to Borussia Mönchengladbach was a small setback after the goalless draw against RasenBallsport Leipzig and the superb 4-0 win at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. With 24 points from 22 games, Steffen Baumgart’s team are still in mid-table, but a win could see them move to within two points of BVB.
The opponents
Kovac, who took over at BVB after the departure of Nuri Sahin and is tasked with leading them back up towards the top of the table, got off to a bad start, suffering two painful losses, 2-1 against VfB Stuttgart and 2-0 at neighbours, VfL Bochum. This negative trend has been a constant through the what is currently their worst season since 2007/08. At that time, in the last season before the Jürgen Klopp era, they finished 13th, the last time they had ended in the double digits.
Reacting to numerous injury worries, the club's management strengthened the squad in midfield this winter with the return of loanee Salih Özcan (previously at VfL Wolfsburg) and new loanee Carney Chukwuemeka from Chelsea. At the back, the Swede Daniel Svensson will now be available as an alternative at least until the summer.
The head to head
Saturday's game is the 14th between the two teams at the competitive level. In the Bundesliga, Union have won four matches so far, while BVB have won seven. Both encounters in the DFB Pokal were also won by Saturday’s hosts.
The reunions
Tom Rothe, who has been with Union since last summer, played for various Borussia sides from 2021 to 2023, including making seven appearances for the first team.
He will be facing two former Union players in Nico Schlotterbeck who made 17 appearances during his 2020/21 loan period, and Julian Ryerson, whose 109 games between 2018 and 2023 included a huge role in both promotion to, and establishment in the Bundesliga.
The personnel
Union head coach Steffen Baumgart will not be able to call on the injured Oluwaseun Ogbemudia, Aljoscha Kemlein and Robert Skov.
The coach’s view ahead of the game
“Dortmund have made mistakes that could cost them, and we have to capitalise on that,” said Union head coach, Steffen Baumgart during his regular press conference on Thursday afternoon. “We want to take something home, but that will only happen if everything goes our way. The fact that not everything has gone wonderfully for us either continues to be an issue. So, it will be an interesting and very good game played in front of a great atmosphere.”
Service information
Almost 3,900 Union fans will be travelling to the away game in Dortmund with their team. The Union fan vehicle will also be there. Information on visiting the stadium can be found here (German)
The game will be broadcast live on Sky. There will also be an audio stream on rbb24 Inforadio and on rbb24. As usual, Union will also provide information on the game via the club's own live ticker as well as providing live updates in both English and Spanish on Twitter.
